1634: The Baltic War

by Eric Flint, David Weber

Hardcover, 728 pages

English language

Published Sept. 5, 2007 by Baen.

ISBN:: 978-1-4165-2102-0

(9 reviews)

The Baltic War which began in the novel 1633 is still raging, and the time-lost Americans of Grantville - the West Virginia town hurled back into the seventeenth century by a mysterious cosmic accident - are caught in the middle of it.

Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden and Emperor of the United States of Europe, prepares a counter-attack on the combined forces of France, Spain, England, and Denmark - former enemies which have allied in the League of Ostend to destroy the threat to their power that the Americans represent - which are besieging the German city of Luebeck.

Elsewhere in war-torn Europe, several American plans are approaching fruition. Admiral Simpson of Grantville frantically races against time to finish the USE Navy's ironclad ships - desperately needed to break the Ostender blockade of the Baltic ports. A commando unit sent by Mike Stearns to England prepares to rescue Americans being …

In Amsterdam, Rebecca Stearns continues three-way negotiations with the Prince of Orange and the Spanish Cardinal-Infante who has conquered most of the Netherlands. And, in Copenhagen, the captured young USE naval officer Eddie Cantrell tries to persuade the King of Denmark to break with the Ostender alliance, all while pursuing a dangerous romantic involvement with one of the Danish princesses.

2 editions

Blind_Mapmaker reviewed 1634: The Baltic War by David Weber (Ring of Fire)

Review of '1634: The Baltic War' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3.25 The series doesn't really take a nose-dive, but personally I enjoyed this one a whole lot less than the previous installments. Military preparations, battles and love at first sight take precedence again and it does get a little tedious on 1000+ pages. The shennanigans of the Danish royals vis-a-vis Eddie do a little to alleviate this, but not enough. The B plot with the prisoners in the tower and the fate of the English viewpoint characters is considerably better, but takes up much less space.

I'm not going to stop reading the series (bought too many of the volumes anyway), but I think I am going to take a little break for now.

As an aside, Kristina of Sweden is delightful as ever. Somebody even mentions her nose.